Chambord Chateau - France

[ricleite]

@ Mike - one thing that puzzles me in the towers you mention is the different number of dome slices and black "windows". By cutting the black parts, some more fragile lines may be aligned. I bet that the assembly gets harder and the part gets more fragile...

[Alexio]

The other problem I see coming is that some of those bigger blacked arches have walls and doors or windows within/behind the arch. To do the chateau justice you'd need to scratchbuild little wall sections behind the arches and possibly floors too.

[Erik Zwaan]

That's a good start Thomas! Only cutting out all these detailed parts will keep you busy for a very long period. L'Instant Durable models are usually a bit more complicated than you would expect or think from the looks of it - I built two of them and agreed with Ricardo's earlier remark. But once successfully completed you can be very proud !

Erik

[Tomdaviesclay]

I appreciate all the kind and helpful remarks made about Chambord on the preceding threads. I was reading the first one that Alexio wrote about Chambord looking like a bucket of French fries. At the time I was at McDonald’s eating French fries. I just couldn’t get the image out of my mind, so on the next visit to McDonald’s, I had French fries again and took some home with me. I photocopied a copy the top of the tower that I just attached and glued on the French fries. You can see the result. :-).

The 4 corner towers are identical plus each has a small building attached to it with more “French fries”. I am now in the process of making the one which is attached to the backside of the first tower.

I think that I will next work on a ground-level part of the Châteaux and then go back to 2nd tower. It could get rather tedious building all 4 towers together in succession.

The reason for so many enormous chimney stacks is that Chambord has 365 fireplaces in the Châteaux and each chimney stack contains up to 8 flues.

Due to the rescheduling of my wife’s knee replacement surgery, we had to change our Viking cruise and excursion to the Loire Valley from this fall to next spring, so I will have plenty of time build the other Châteaux.

[Mike Stamper]

Ric,

You are right! Things did get quite complicated, I used different sized "sticks" to shape the domes.

As for the inside, these are so thin there is almost no wall to decorate, I just painted them black. The paint and water also helped to make the walls stiffer.

I had to do it - the picture on the cover looked odd with roofs that looked like open flowers ;-)

Sorry to hear about the postponed holiday Thomas. The Loire Valley isn't the place to be with dodgy knees;-)

Mike

[Tomdaviesclay]

The first several of the photos show the addition of the small building attached to the first of the 4 towers on the central part of the model. They have numerous dormers and chimneys as does the first part. There are 4 identical sets on top of the main building. I have decided to complete the adjacent lower part and tower before returning to the right tower section. It will give me a break from these tedious little pieces.

Please note the section on the left (facing the building) which has one of the stairways attached to the rear. The corner tower construction is a little different from the top towers in that several of the dormers are attached to the main lower circle and that the top dormers roofs are glued to the circular dome. This is much easier to put together than adding the complete dormer to the dome. There are; however, still several chimneys to be added directly to the roof. I am finding these small pieces, that are so close together,rather difficult to attach with old shaky hands.

Looking at the building with the naked eye, instead of photographs, the dormers and towers look very straight. I spend a lot of time looking at them and straightening them when attaching them, but the photographs show some of them are leaning a little bit. They really don’t look like a basket of ” French fries”. They look very straight.

Since the riight tower and right lower sections are identical to what I have posted, I will wait until I finish the right side before posting again, but I do love hearing your comments so please continue to make them.

[Alexio]

I continue to marvel at your photos, it is coming along beautifully.


Alexio
(missing France this week... its been 3 years since we got over there)

[ricleite]

All those towers, dormer windows, chimneys and embellishments make a very intricate assembly!

[Tomdaviesclay]

After a short break, I finished the right side of the front of the castle. The right tower top and the other small building are identical to the left side, but the number and location of the chimneys and dormers are a little different, but are still rather small and hard to get on straight as my 81 year old hands start to shake.

Next I will do the right corner tower on the back side of the main building followed by the right side wall around the court yard. This gives me a short break from the remaining chimneys and dormers.

[Madbrit]

As always your willingness and fortitude to undertake large and complex constructions never ceases to amaze one. Chambord proceeds with unrestrained plaudits, at least from me !! I look forward to seeing it progress further . Well done, sir.

Derek